Choosing the right IPAD for my needs

Definitely go for the I7 processor.

If you can increase the RAM to 16GB that would be highly recommended.

Otherwise, it looks o.k. and definitely an i7 CPU.

Enjoy your Surface 6.

Congrats and I hope it does all and more than you could have hoped for!

I'm sure there's more than enough CPU power and RAM. Let us know how you like it in a few weeks.

Unlike iOS, Windows 10 is vulnerable to virus. I've used Webroot for years and been very happy with it.

I don't know anything about Bitedefender. Maybe someone else will chime in as well.

I'd offer that the two you may find a bit frustrating on iPad Pro are using spreadsheets and Writing a book. The reason I say that is no iPad yet offers mouse support. You can learn to live without a mouse, for for real computer work, a mouse is invaluable and iPad can't have one. I'm an iPad Pro 11 user. I love mine. I wouldn't ever be without one. But I still use a good laptop for the reasons I just mentioned.

• My only computer, personal use only, just retire at 55 (in finance), need to keep up ;).

There are times when an iPad needs iTunes to be tweaked. So having it at your only device means you may one day need to take it to an apple store if there is a serious issue.

• Office or only Excel, using all functionalities in Excel (Pivots, graphs, plans, functions, formulas, ...).

All apps are skinnied down versions of programs. So may not have the functionality of the original program.

• Download movies and pictures, create videos with music, editing videos.

It will download over wifi - no support for wired internet unless it’s the pro version - and the iMovie and other apps are less fully featured than their program counterparts

• Listening to music, taking good quality pictures.

You can listen to music, however the camera is basic at best. So it depends on your definition of ‘good quality’, most professional photographers will laugh at using an iDevice camera instead of a real one.

• Be able to listen to movies or videos with connection on a TV screen.

Yeah, this should work, although you may or may not need Apple TV as a counterpart for this. I don’t use mine that way

• Browse on the Internet, printing documents.

Browsing works, especially if you get more than one browser because sometimes mobile safari is a bit buggy. Printing only natively works with Air Print enabled printers, but many printers have companion apps or there are third party ones. Air Print gives you little to no control beyond basic ‘print this page’ so if you need to tweak settings you will have issues

• Writing books, creating holiday cards, drawing, painting.

Probably. Depends on the apps you use.

• Reading books.

THere are EBook apps you can download and use. Although some do mention that the backlighting can contribute to eye strain vs an e-reader.

• Not tough for the eyes.

The backlight can be tough on the eyes (and the jury is still out on the blue light from screens contributing to eye issues). Y ou can tweak some of this by lowering your device’s brightness....but device screens are near useless in the sunlight.

• Fast recharge, long lasting charge, long life battery.

the battery life is pretty good, especially if you take care of it.

• Fast download rate, fast Wi-Fi plateform, works with Face-time, no phone needed.

download rate often depends on your connection so fast is relative. Facetime is natively included but only works ove wifi unless you purchase a cellular model

• Actual memory usage on my PC of 255 GB out of 452 GB, but It could be cleaned a lot and all my stuff is there, no cloud.

You can get iPads with large memory spaces, but remember that if you don’t back that data up and the iPad has an issue it’s all gone, so you’d need some sort of cloud based backup.

• Mite travel once in a while with it, but not its principle use.

It does travel easy so that would be easy. Light and portable, just be sure to get a good case/sleeve to avoid any screen breaks

• Need a keyboard, do not know if better Smart (Smart or Smart/folio) or separate.

iPads work well with bluetooth keyboards.

That said....go for a macbook. With the wide variety of stuff you want to do you will likely spend a lot of time tweaking and finding work arounds.

Or if your budget is no issue, get a macbook and a lower end iPad and use the two in union. The iPad for easy stuff, the macbook for when you need more oomph and power.

I had a Zagg slim book for my mini. I kept having issues with the attachment part from the keyboard to the case wearing out and breaking. It was the kind of case where the ipad was in a back case, that attached to the keyboard so could be used laptop style, tablet style or ‘movie style’....tenting it.

I love Zagg stuff but after going through 3 in the first year, abandoned it. I got a cheap logitech one for my mini that i’m still using today, and got another logitech one for my full sized ipad that I bought last christmas....so another brand to try out if you’re so inclined.

You are welcome and I'm glad you've found the solution that best meets your needs. It was actually ShagCA who initially suggested the Surface Pro. I just echoed his recommendation. In terms of other suggestions, I'm a laptop guy with iPad Pro, iPhone and Apple Watch. TBH, I don't have any real experience with the Surface devices. I think people who have them are pretty happy with them.

I do wish you great success moving forward!